MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry

Microsoft’s ambiguity over the subject of pre-owned resulted in the week from hell for its PR team last week. Let’s hope Sony’s PR team is sitting comfortably. The Xbox One has had to endure a torrid few days as the world asks for an answer to a very simple question …

Germany’s federal commissioner for data protection Peter Schaar has expressed concerns over the privacy implications of the Xbox One. Polygon translates a German news report that Schaar has been looking into Microsoft’s console since its unveiling earlier this month. More specifically, Schaar is investigating the hardware’s always-on capabilities and the …

Microsoft has applied for a patent that would potentially award achievements for watching video content. Games Industry originally reported on the ‘Awards and Achievements Across TV Ecosystem’ patent published by the firm, which covers the idea of rewarding viewers with achievements in essentially the same way that Xbox 360 does …

PlayStation fans have drummed up a Twitter campaign to urge significant Sony employees against taking an aggressive stance on DRM and used games sales for PlayStation 4. VG247 reports the campaign encourages gamers to post tweets using hashtags #PS4NoDRM and #PS4USEDGAMES – more specifically instructing them to direct statements toward …

Borderlands 2 tops the latest Steam top ten charts for the second week in a row, with Metro: Last Light maintaining the runner-up position behind Gearbox’s hit sequel. The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing debuted in fourth, while god game Reus moved up two spots from last week to sixth. …

The UK games market took a bold step towards accurate games download charts today. As part of the release of download charts from March, 2012 historical info and a wider call for industry support, UK trade association Ukie has published ABOUT THE UK’S NEW DIGITAL GAMES CHART The digital sales …

SimCity and BioShock Infinite come out the best in the first official PC download charts for the UK. Published by trade association Ukie and collated by data firm Ipsos, the UK PC download charts are the culmination of years of effort to start accurately measuring a sector that has digital …

In a world first, the UK has been the first games market to produce an accurate download chart, plus a chart that mixes download and retail sales. This morning UK trade association Ukie has taken the wraps off of its digital chart project for PC, revealed today as a major …

Savalas sound man Michael Mackinnon puts forward the case for foley in games

Combined sales of PS4 and Xbox One expected to break 'thirty per cent' rule